Citrix funding entrepreneurs

Citrix Systems on Wednesday launched an incubation program out of its Santa Clara campus to kick start innovation in mobility technology.

The virtualization and cloud computing company, which has 600 workers in its Silicon Valley offices, plans to provide nearly $400,000 each to up to 12 entrepreneurs to help them develop their ideas and business plans.

The program, dubbed the Citrix Startup Accelerator, is geared toward efforts focused on virtualization, mobile apps, security, networking and cloud computing. Citrix is interested in would-be startups that share its vision of allowing people to work away from the office using any device, be it desktop or mobile.

The early-stage startups will be assigned a mentor who that will work with them for up to 18 months near the Citrix’s offices. They will also be given access to Citrix’s customer base, allowing them to get feedback as they develop their ideas and business models.

“We expect our seed investments and entrepreneur-friendly environment to help spur new technologies,” said the head of the program, Martin Duursma,who is vice president of Citrix Labs.

The incubation program’s launch coincides with the company’s 15th anniversary as a publicly traded firm, and comes as it tries to raise its profile in the Valley. Its Citrix Receiver, which lets workers use their iPad as a virtual desktop, is among the most popular business apps on Apple’s App Store.